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Daily articles carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. Read our popular and future articles.
Riverside Records: An Alternative Top Ten
From 1953, when it was set up, to 1964, when it was acquired by ABC, Riverside Records rivalled Blue Note and Prestige as one of the leading independent jazz labels based in New York City. The founders of all three labels were jazz fans who operated on slim margins and became producers partly because they enjoyed it but also to keep the payroll down. Orrin Keepnews co-founded Riverside with Bill Grauer. The pair had been colleagues on ...
read moreAnishana: Corners of the Sky
What a pleasant surprise. When a group named Anishana records an album built around Native American themes and concepts, the inclination is to withhold judgment while preparing for the worst. Yes, Anishana is an Algonquin-derived term meaning “where do you come from?" And yes, Anishana loosely bases the music in Corners of the Sky on Native American customs and beliefs. The good news is that those indigenous Americans evidently had jazz chops no one suspected and swung like plumage in ...
read moreVarious Artists: Tales Of Wonder: A Jazz Celebration Of Stevie
There aren't many songwriters who have reached a level of success comparable to Stevie Wonder. He is one of the most important figures in American music, and to celebrate his 70th birthday, Posi-Tone records is releasing Tales of Wonder: A Jazz Celebration of Stevie. This compilation, performed by some of the label's excellent roster of musicians, offers a fitting tribute to this legendary artist. Rather than simply offering something of a greatest hits compilation, Tales of Wonder digs into Wonder's ...
read moreLouise Cappi: Mélange
Vocalist Louise Cappi's recording Mélange is a musical collection of short stories, each cast as uniquely and differently as if they were written by a Mario Vargas Llosa or Gabriel García Márquez. Each selection is carefully curated, right down to the production, to achieve a given end. The title is apt as each of these songs differ from the other, some greatly and some not so much. It makes for a rich listening experience and a celebration of American music ...
read moreLuca Sguera, Enrique Haneine and Joe McPhee & Dave Rempis
This episode is a mixed bag of music of new releases (Gordon Grdina Sextet, Luca Sguera, Enrique Haneine, Dave Rempis & Joe McPhee, and The Necks) plus further listening from recent releases by the likes of Marie Kruttli and Trio, Itaca 4et, Inland Empire featuring Kris Davis, The MacroQuarktet and Simon Nabatov Quintet), and revisits to Dwight Trible's Mothership, and like-aged fine wine, Jack DeJohnette's Special Edition. Playlist Gordon Grdina Sextet “Ever Onward" from Resist (Irabagast) 00:00 Host ...
read moreAnthony Coleman: Catenary Oath
Catenary Oath presents a 2018 solo recital by pianist and composer Anthony Coleman, recorded at Jordan Hall in the New England Conservatory in Boston where he also teaches. The album, available as a limited edition LP or digitally, contains a mix of originals and standards all given deeply personalized interpretations by the pianist. Coleman's profile has lessened since the 1990s when he was a regular on the downtown scene alongside John Zorn, Dave Douglas and Marc Ribot, but he still ...
read moreJimmy Cobb: We're Remembering U
Drummer Jimmy Cobb was a 91-year old NEA Jazz Master who was (until recently) still playing hard and keeping the groove with his trio consisting of Tadataka Unno on piano and Paolo Benedettini on drums. Remembering U (his 12th album as a leader and first release on his own Jimmy Cobb World label) was released in August 2019 and features the late, great Roy Hargrove on trumpet/flugelhorn and Javon Jackson on tenor saxophone. Cobb was also the last ...
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